Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment is most often equated with paddling or the striking of a student's buttocks with a wooden paddle by a school authority to maintain discipline or to enforce school rules. However, corporal punishment is more broadly defined as reasonable physical force used by school authorities to restrain disruptive students, to correct unacceptable behavior, and to maintain the order necessary to provide a proper educational program. The long history of corporal punishment has biblical roots, marked by the Old Testament notion of “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” The use of corporal punishment can be traced to precolonial England, and it has been a conventional method of disciplining children in the United States since colonial times.

Corporal punishment has been a common disciplinary tool within school systems in the United States. Legal and popular opinion sanction parental authority to use corporal punishment to discipline children, and similarly, under the concept of in loco parentis, permit the use of reasonable corporal punishment by school personnel. Maintaining order in the classroom is fundamental to schools' compelling interest in providing a proper education for children. Under common law, disciplinary sanctions for misbehavior, such as corporal punishment, may be necessary for schools to maintain order and conduct their services in a manner that promote learning.

The courts have upheld the constitutionality of corporal punishment as an acceptable means of controlling student behavior in school. In the landmark case, Ingraham v. Wright (1977), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment did not apply to disciplinary corporal punishment in schools. The Court indicated that corporal punishment had been an accepted method of promoting good behavior since before the American Revolution. According to the Court, decisions to use corporal punishment are policy questions best left to local school officials. The openness of public schools, supervision of schools by the community, and traditional legal remedies are sufficient safeguards against abuses of corporal punishment.

At the same time, this Court recognized that extensive due process protections, requiring notice and a hearing prior to imposing corporal punishment, would interfere with the efficiency of the school discipline process. However, federal appeals courts have subsequently held that excessive corporal punishment violates substantive due process rights afforded by the Fourteenth Amendment and have advanced standards governing corporal punishment of students. School officials may administer corporal punishment within reasonable limits when it is related to a legitimate state interest and is not motivated by malice or anger.

Currently, the practice of corporal punishment in schools is prohibited in every industrialized country in the world except the United States, Canada, and one state in Australia. In the United States, more than half of the states ban its use in schools. The highest incidents of corporal punishment tend to be in southern states, while the lowest are in the northeastern states, where a number of states have outlawed its use. However, during the last 20 years, the overall number of students exposed to corporal punishment has decreased.

In states that do permit corporal punishment, many local school districts may pass policies prohibiting this practice or have guidelines seriously limiting its use. The most common restrictions are that it can be [Page 220]meted out only by an administrator and only in the presence of another school official. Some districts provide for prior written parental approval before administering corporal punishment. Furthermore, corporal punishment is more commonly used on poor children, Black children, and children with disabilities. However, increasing litigation and a growing body of case law has discouraged the use of corporal punishment in many school districts.

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